Rich rewards at Lothian Buses

It has all been said before, but there a few truths about the buses in Edinburgh that are worth repeating today.

The bus services in Edinburgh are excellent - among the best, if not the best, in Britain. They are generally reliable, clean, increasingly green and tech-friendly, and offer passengers good value for money.

Lothian Buses, the council-owned firm which runs them, is a great asset to Edinburgh. The people of the city see the benefit of it every day and as a result, quite rightly, value it very highly.

Everyone who makes it work - from mechanics and drivers to the most senior executives - deserve some credit and reasonable rewards.

The drivers get paid around £24,000 a year. Senior executives are, as you might expect, far more generously rewarded.

Does all this mean that three of its most senior executives deserve to be so handsomely rewarded? Last year, including golden handshake payments, they shared more than £1 million. Are such packages really necessary to attract high-calibre executives? That’s questionable to say the least.

And when it is a publicly-owned company shouldn’t the process for deciding such rewards be more accountable and transparent.